Marzena Nowak

BORN 1977, Piaseczno

Marzena Nowak's inspiration comes from memory and imagination; she creates in her work a tangible tension between autobiographic references and the poetics of dreams. Nowak achieves a similar quality in her installations and videos (Dad, 2005, Avenue of Roses, 2005). Wiesław Borowski wrote of her films, “It’s the practice of whispering, of tenderness, but not devoid of strong expression either.” Nowak is a graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, with a degree obtained under Prof. Leon Tarasewicz in 2002. She lives and works in Vienna and Warsaw. She won the first prize in the 6th Eugeniusz Geppert Competition.

My Bedclothes

One of a series of pieces in which the artist has transferred scraps of bed linen patterns onto the canvas. The simple structure of a pattern repeated on a white background becomes a symbol of everyday life. Bedclothes, the fabric that covers us during sleep, represent our second skin. The artist is inspired by things common, ordinary, familiar since childhood. “They leave a lasting imprint in our memory, shapes our psyche and sense of aesthetics, and evokes pleasant (or unpleasant) feelings throughout our lives. They are important to us. And, at the same time, we grow emotionally attached to them. We make them meaningful,” explains the artist in one interview.

Grandmother's Bedclothes

One of a series of pieces in which the artist has transferred scraps of bed linen patterns onto the canvas. The simple structure of a pattern repeated on a white background becomes a symbol of everyday life. Bedclothes, the fabric that covers us during sleep, represent our second skin. The artist is inspired by things common, ordinary, familiar since childhood. “They leave a lasting imprint in our memory, shapes our psyche and sense of aesthetics, and evokes pleasant (or unpleasant) feelings throughout our lives. They are important to us. And, at the same time, we grow emotionally attached to them. We make them meaningful,” explains the artist in one interview.

Patterns I

In Patterns, Marzena Nowak transfers dozens of sewing patterns on the canvas. Schematics that define the body’s dimensions, its mathematical coordinates, form a chaotic tangle of lines, a constellation, a kind of three-dimensional map. Above all, however, these abstract patterns evoke the artist’s personal memory – sewing patterns published in women’s magazines such as Burda, that her mother used. Patterns was Nowak’s academy graduation project.

Patterns II

In Patterns, Marzena Nowak transfers dozens of sewing patterns on the canvas. Schematics that define the body’s dimensions, its mathematical coordinates, form a chaotic tangle of lines, a constellation, a kind of three-dimensional map. Above all, however, these abstract patterns evoke the artist’s personal memory – sewing patterns published in women’s magazines such as Burda, that her mother used. Patterns was Nowak’s academy graduation project.